The Book of Omni

Omni was the son of Jarom and a great-great-grandson of Lehi and Sariah. When Omni wrote, 276 years had passed since Lehi left Jerusalem. Omni describes himself as a “wicked man” who had “not kept the statutes and the commandments of the Lord” (Omni 1:2). He fought many battles against the Lamanites (see v. 3).

The book of Omni covers several generations and was written by five different men: Omni, Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, and Amaleki. Amaleki wrote most of the book of Omni and was the last writer in the small plates of Nephi. Because he did not have any children, Amaleki gave the plates to King Benjamin. Amaleki concluded his record in about 130 B.C., about 470 years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem. The accompanying chart might be helpful in understanding the authors and times described in Omni.

Verses	Author	Dates
Omni 1:1–3	Omni (son of Jarom)	361–317 B.C. (Jarom 1:13–15; Omni 1:3)
Omni 1:4–8	Amaron (son of Omni)	317–279 B.C. (Omni 1:3, 5)
Omni 1:9	Chemish (brother of Amaron)
Omni 1:10–11	Abinadom (son of Chemish)
Omni 1:12–30	Amaleki (son of Abinadom)	about 130 B.C.

The book of Omni covers a period of 231 years (from about 361 B.C., when Omni received the records, to about 130 B.C.) in just a few pages.